Suddenly Charging... Are Those Who Claim to Be 'Citizen Guardians' Armed with Just One Baton?

Sharp Increase in Violence Including 'Mutjima Knife Attacks'
Nighttime Companion 'Safe Return Scout' Draws Attention
Most Activists Comprise Women in Their 40s to 60s
Deployed After Few Self-Defense Training Sessions...Safety Concerns Raised

The nature of crime is changing. It is no longer just drunken troublemakers harassing women walking alone at night or pickpockets stealing from pockets. There are knife attacks at subway station entrances with heavy foot traffic. Vehicles are charging onto sidewalks, and knives are being wielded against random people even on the first floor of department stores. On Seoul’s walking trails, created for citizens’ healthy leisure, rapists appear in broad daylight, even taking lives.

Seoul Gwanak-gu recently increased the number of 'Safe Return Scouts' in the Sillim Station area, where a recent stabbing incident occurred, from 4 to 6. The photo shows Safe Return Scouts active in the Sillim Station area. (Photo by Gwanak-gu)

Across the country, posts specifying the locations and times of crimes, predicting murder and terror, are making even strong adult men nervous and look back over their shoulders.

Public transportation, department stores, schools?there is no safe place. Although the police recently promised to strengthen public authority, including the use of firearms in response to knife attacks, there remains a significant security gap.

One of the few systems that local governments have been using to fill the security void is the ‘Safe Return Scout.’ The Safe Return Scout is a service that accompanies citizens returning home late at night to ensure they get home safely. Seoul introduced it in 2013, assigning personnel by district to accompany women and youths returning home between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. (midnight on Mondays, not operating on weekends and holidays) to their doorsteps.

Seoul allocates the budget and distributes it to 25 district offices, which then recruit personnel to operate the service. In 2020, 493 Safe Return Scouts were active across the 25 districts, and in 2021, 500, averaging 20 per district annually, organized into 10 teams (two per team). However, as the annual budget, which was around 5.5 billion KRW, dropped to about 3.8 billion KRW, only 340 were active last year and 334 this year. They are provided with reflective vests, yellow hats, light sticks that emit warning sounds, and self-defense pepper spray.

'Who Provides Safety for the "Safe Return Home Scouts"?' Female Safe Return Home Scouts and female undercover security officers participating in the "Women's Safety Self-Defense Academy" held at the auditorium of Seocho District Office in Seoul are practicing self-defense techniques. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Who performs the Safe Return Scout service that helps ensure safe returns during late-night hours? They are not trained civilians with martial arts skills, trained soldiers, or armed police officers. Most are middle-aged women who have experienced career breaks and have received only one or two self-defense training sessions. Although they are monitored by CCTV control centers, which dispatch patrol cars if an incident occurs, that is only a reactive measure. If they are not wearing reflective vests or carrying light sticks, they too could be targets needing protection on their way home.

Following the severe aftermath of the Shinrim-dong knife attack and rising public anxiety, Gwanak-gu announced on the 17th that it has expanded the Shinrim Station Safe Return Scouts from the previous two teams (four people) to three teams (six people). Some district offices have also highlighted Safe Return Scouts as part of local government security enhancement measures. However, this is insufficient. Although it varies by district, 70-80% of Safe Return Scouts active in the field are women.

A current police officer said, “It’s better than nothing, but honestly, in today’s climate of increasing random crimes, we cannot guarantee their safety either,” adding, “It is also time to implement safety measures for them.”